Prince Harry has suggested that his battle against the British tabloid media played a role in the growing distance between him and his family members.
In the ITV1 documentary, ‘Tabloids on Trial’, the Duke of Sussex spoke for the first time about the December High Court ruling that found Mirror Group Newspapers had hacked his phone and unlawfully obtained private information.
Harry stated that the invasion of his privacy led to “paranoia, and fear and worry, concern, distrust around the people around you.”
He drew parallels to his late mother, Princess Diana, asserting, “The same as my mother. There is evidence to suggest that she was being hacked in the mid-90s, possibly one of the first people to be hacked.”
This approach contrasts with that of his brother, Prince William, who reportedly settled a phone hacking claim against News Group Newspapers in March 2023 for a “very large sum.”
When asked by ITV’s Rebecca Barry about the impact of his determination to fight the tabloids on his relationship with his family, Harry acknowledged, “That’s certainly a central piece to it. But… it’s a hard question to answer, because anything I say about my family results in a torrent of abuse in the press.”
Harry emphasized the importance of his actions, stating, “I’ve made it very clear that this is something that needs to be done. It would be nice if we did it as a family – again, from a service standpoint, when you’re in a public role, these are the things we should be doing for the greater good.”
In response to a question about his family’s decision not to fight the tabloids as he has, Harry remarked, “I think everything that’s played out has shown people what the truth of the matter is. For me the mission continues. But it has, as you say, it’s caused part of a rift.”
In the documentary, he discusses his High Court victory against Mirror Group Newspapers.
Additionally, Harry has ongoing cases against two other tabloid publishers over allegations of using unlawful means to obtain stories about him.
However, he dropped a libel case against the Mail’s publisher, Associated Newspapers, earlier in 2024.
Harry also lost a lawsuit against the government’s decision to provide him with security protection while in the UK after stepping down as a working royal.
The High Court ruled in January that he was not improperly stripped of his publicly-funded security detail, and he plans to appeal that decision.
